Fashion item analysis based on user ensembles in online fashion community

ABSTRACT

In an online fashion community system ( 100 ) users provide personal image content, such as digital user fashion images ( 104, 700 ) that include users themselves modeling multiple fashion items as an ensemble, as the basis of community interaction. Users also provide information about the multiple fashion items, including information linking ( 108 ) to a provider of each fashion item and fashion data ( 106 ) such as brand, color, style, etc. User interface system ( 116 ) allows users to search among, access, and interact about the user fashion ensembles.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/280,270, filed Sep. 29, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,771,544 which is acontinuation of and claims priority benefit to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/966,077, filed Aug. 13, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,479,577,which is a non-provisional application of U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 61/683,135, filed on Aug. 14, 2012, all of which are incorporatedherein by this reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to online communities and, in particular, to anonline fashion community.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Online social media encompasses a wide range of computer network-basedsites through which people interact with each other. Two distinct typesof online social media include social network sites and onlinecommunities. Social network sites are generally based upon directinterpersonal connections, and often interpersonal connections thatexist outside of or antecedent to the online realm. For example, sitessuch as Facebook.com and LinkedIn.com provide communication frameworksthat focus on direct personal or professional relationships. Incontrast, online communities are generally based upon topics of commoninterest where community members come together to discuss, share, orlearn information about the community topic.

Online communities cover an immense range of topics and have evolvedfrom the earliest days of networked interaction. From online bulletinboards to discussion forums, online communities have been a popular andegalitarian forum for discussing and sharing information and opinions.In this discussion-focused context, online communities have been apredominantly text-based medium. However, one form of online communityhas evolved that focuses on community members or users sharing links toonline sites or online photographs or images that are of interest,rather than being dominated by text-based discussion. This sort ofcommunity, sometimes called a content curation site, has beenpopularized by the general-topic site Pinterest.com. An analogous sitedirected to fashion-related content is Weheartit.com.

An advantage of online communities configured as content curation sitesis that they capture the richness of network-based images for an onlinecommunity. A disadvantage, however, is that they focus on image andinformation sources other than the community members. A community membershares a personal interest based upon, or represented by, an onlineimage created by another person.

Accordingly, an online fashion community is provided in which communitymembers provide personal image content as the basis of communityinteraction. In one implementation, community members provide digitalfashion images that include themselves modeling multiple fashion itemsas an ensemble. Each user also provides information about the multiplefashion items, including information linking to a provider of eachfashion item, such as a link to a network site operated by the provider.(The provider may be a manufacturer or a retailer, for example.) Inaddition, fashion data about the fashion items is obtained. For example,the community member may provide fashion data such as brand, color,style, etc. Alternatively, the community site may obtain the fashiondata by a computer automatically accessing the provider network site. Inthis implementation the community member may be prompted to validate theaccuracy of the fashion information retrieved from the provider networksite.

Additional aspects and advantages of this online fashion communitysystem and method will be apparent from the following detaileddescription that proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an online fashion community system.

FIG. 2 is a combined flow and block diagram of a fashion communityupload method.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of user interface system.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of a fashion information uploadinterface.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of a fashion information uploadinterface.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic illustration of one implementation of fashioncommunity display interface.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic illustration of a sample user ensemble image.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic illustration of a sample social fashion graph.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a social fashion graph generating method.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a system 1000 having a computing device1002 as an operating environment of one or more embodiments describedabove.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an online fashion community system 100 inwhich community members or users (referred to generally as users)provide personal digital image content as the basis of interaction amongcommunity users. In one implementation, community users provide userfashion images in which the users themselves model multiple fashionitems together as an ensemble. The user fashion images of communityusers are graphic representations of combinations of fashion items thatthe posting community users believe to be attractive, stylish, etc. andprovide a basis for related community fashion interaction. It will beappreciated that the user fashion images may be still or motion imagesas represented by corresponding digital image files. For example, stillimages could be represented by image files in the JPEG file format, orother still image file formats, and motion images could be representedby image files in an MPEG file format, or other motion image fileformats.

As one example, a user fashion image may include the user wearing adress with various fashion accessories such as shoes, jewelry, andsunglasses, and also holding a handbag. The dress, shoes, jewelry,sunglasses, and handbag are fashion items that together comprise anensemble that is assembled and modeled by the user. As another example,a user fashion image may include the user wearing slacks, a shirt, acoat, shoes, and a belt of an ensemble. Fashion community system 100 isapplicable to both male and female users and male and female fashions.For purposes of illustration, the following description is directedprimarily to female fashion and female users but is similarly applicableto male fashion and male users.

Fashion community system 100 includes a fashion community database 102that stores user accounts or profiles 103, user fashion images 104submitted or posted by community members or users, fashion informationor data 106 relating to fashion items modeled by users in the images104, and links 108 to providers, such as vendors or manufacturers of thefashion items. As examples, links 108 may correspond to a single-brandmanufacturer or retailer, a multi-brand retailer, an aggregator websitethat aggregates fashion items of many other providers, etc. Userprofiles 103 may include a wide range of information about usersincluding any or all of a user name, user location (e.g., country, city,and state), fashion images and related information uploaded by the user,links to other users or user fashion images liked by or commented on bythe user, links to social network sites, etc.

Fashion community database 102 is in communication with a fashioncommunity network site 110 such as a website available to multiple users112 over a worldwide public computer network 114 (e.g., the Internet).Network site includes a user interface system 116 through whichcommunity user information and fashion information is passed betweendatabase 102 and users 112. Fashion community network site 110 usesinterface system 116 to display fashion community information, such asuser fashion images 104 and related fashion information 106 and providerlinks 108, as subjects of community interest and expression.

FIG. 2 is a combined flow and block diagram of a fashion communityupload method 200 in which a user fashion image 104 is received from acommunity user and incorporated into fashion community system 100.Community upload method 200 is described with reference to actions oroperations that are performed or controlled by a user 202 operating apersonal computing device 204 (e.g., desktop computer, laptop computer,tablet computer, “smart” telephone, etc.), fashion community system 100operating on one or more server computers, and fashion provider systems206 each operating on one or more server computers, typically under thecontrol or management of the respective fashion providers.

Process block 210 indicates that user 202 provides a personal userfashion image 212 (i.e., a digital image file) to fashion communitysystem 100 for storage in database 102. For example, user 202 uploadspersonal user fashion image 212 in digital form to fashion communitysystem 100 via user interface system 116 (FIG. 1) of fashion communitynetwork site 110 (FIG. 1) on computing device 204. Personal user fashionimage 212 includes user 202 wearing or otherwise modeling multiplefashion items as an ensemble. Fashion community system 100 may includeuser verification in the uploading of personal user fashion image 212 toconfirm that photo 212 is of user 202 and conforms to communityguidelines, including prohibitions against images not of users or thatinclude nudity or minors, for example.

Process block 214 indicates that user 202 provides user-provided fashioninformation 215 to community system 100 for storage in database 102.Fashion information 215 may include a link to a provider of each of thefashion items in the ensemble, wherein the provider may be amanufacturer of the fashion item or a retailer who sells it. Fashioninformation 215 may also include any or all of a title for the ensembleof user fashion image 212, a description of the ensemble, the date, theuser, information about the fashion items in the ensemble, includingfashion item types, brands, colors, fabric prints, and additional userfashion images of the ensemble.

In one implementation, the link is to a page specifically related to thefashion item and may be referred to as an item-specific provider link.In addition to the provider link or as an alternative to it, the fashioninformation 215 provided by user 202 may include image tags or labelsthat specifically indicate or mark specific fashion items in image 212.The image tags may also correlate each fashion item with itscorresponding provider link, and may also include additional fashioninformation (sometimes referred to as metadata) regarding the fashionitem including any of the type of clothing or accessory, the color, thebrand, the type of fabric in the fashion item, print or image patternson the fabric, etc.

As an example, the type of clothing or accessory may be organizedaccording to category and may include any or all of the followingcategories and types, others:

-   -   Category—TOP: Types—Dresses, Jumpsuits, Tunics, Shirt/Blouses, T        Shirts, Tanks, Swimwear, Corsets, Cardigans, Sweaters,        Turtlenecks, Vests, Blazers, Jackets, Capes, Coats, Trenches    -   Category—BOTTOM: Types—Pants, Jeans, Harem/Baggy Pants,        Leggings, Skirts, Shorts, Tutus    -   Category—FOOTWEAR: Types—Ankle Boots/Booties, Boots, Flats,        Gladiators, Heels/Wedges, Over The Knee, Oxfords/Derbies,        Sneakers    -   Category—ACCESSORIES: Types—Bags, Clutches, Beanies/Berets,        Hats, Headdress, Belts, Necklaces, Bracelets, Scarves/Echarpes,        Ties/Bows, Socks/Tights, Glasses/Sunglasses, Gloves, Backpacks,        Color Tights, Earrings, Brooches, Watches

Process block 216 indicates that fashion community system 100 receivesand stores the user fashion image 212 with the fashion informationprovided by user 202. For example, fashion community system 100 storesthe user fashion image 212 and the fashion information in communityfashion database 102 as an ensemble or “look” associated with user 202.

Process block 218 indicates that fashion community system 100 determineswhether each fashion item included in user fashion image 212 has beenpreviously included in database 102. For example, fashion communitysystem 100 compares an item-specific provider link provided by user 202to item-specific provider links previously stored in database 102, whichpreviously-stored links may be associated with one or more otherensembles or looks already stored in database 102. A previously-storeditem-specific provider link in database 102 will have associated with itprovider fashion data previously retrieved from the provider link, asdescribed below in greater detail. For each item-specific provider linknot previously stored in database 102, process block 218 proceeds tobock 222. For each item-specific provider link previously stored indatabase 102, process block 218 proceeds to process block 224.

Process block 222 indicates that fashion community system 100 accessesunder computer control the item-specific provider link for each fashionitem to obtain fashion data 225 from the corresponding fashion providersystem 206. Typically, the item-specific provider link will access anetwork page 226 corresponding to the fashion item. Network page 226 maybe, for example, an online retail catalog page corresponding to thefashion item and including detailed information about the item includingitem name, reference or catalog number, description, price, colors, oneor more display images. The computer-controlled accessing of networkpage 226 may be executed by a software application, sometimes called anetwork robot or “bot” or a Web crawler, that automatically accesses andparses network page 226 to search for predefined information, which inone implementation may include any or all of item name, reference orcatalog number, description, price, color, main display image and anyadditional display image, and returns the information 225 to system 100for storage in database 102 as provider fashion data for the fashionitem.

Process block 224 indicates that for each fashion item in the ensemble,provider fashion data 225 is sent to user 202 at computing device 204.

Process block 228 indicates that user is requested to provideconfirmation or validation that fashion data 225 correctly characterizesthe fashion item. If fashion data 220 is confirmed or validated by user202, process block 228 proceeds to process block 230. Otherwise, processblock 224 proceeds to process block 232.

Process block 230 indicates that user fashion image 212 anduser-provided fashion information 215 are associated with providerfashion data 220 and make available to display for community users thefashion ensemble assembled and modeled by user 202.

Process block 232 indicates that any incorrect or invalid aspect offashion data 220 is corrected with respect to the fashion item in theensemble of fashion image 104. Correction may be made by user 202directly (as illustrated) or by an operator of or moderator forcommunity system 100 based upon correction information provided by user202. Corrected fashion information is returned to fashion system 100 andprocess block 232 proceeds to process block 230.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of user interface system 116, whichincludes a fashion community upload user interface 300 and a fashioncommunity display interface 302. Upload user interface 300 may beactivated by a user to upload user fashion image 104 to fashioncommunity system 100. Upload user interface 300 includes a user fashionimage upload interface 304 with which the user indicates a personalfashion image file on the user's computing device to be uploaded tofashion community system 100. Alternatively, the user fashion image maybe accessed from a network site indicated by the user, such as a blog orsocial network page of the user, by a link to a specific image or by abrowser programming element (sometimes called a “bookmarklet”) providedby fashion community system 100 to access and retrieve the image orimages located at the site and provide it or them to the user to beselected for upload. Upon uploading of the personal fashion image file,a fashion information upload interface 306 is generated through whichthe user uploads fashion information relating to fashion items in theimage.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of a fashion information uploadinterface 400 as one implementation of fashion information uploadinterface 306. Fashion information upload interface 400 includes animage 402 of the uploaded personal fashion image file. An instruction404 directs the user to “click on your picture below and tag it withyour outfit details.” Upload interface receives from the user a “click”or other computing device input at a location in image 402 on oradjacent a fashion item to indicate that fashion item. In response,upload interface 400 applies a tag marker 406 to the location indicatedby the user. In the illustration of FIG. 4, for example, tag marker 406is located on a shirt or blouse to refer to the shirt or blouse. Tagmarker 406 as illustrated in FIG. 4 has an outline to highlight marker406 relative to image 402 and also a numeric indicator fordistinguishing multiple markers. It will be appreciated that tag marker406 may be of any configuration and may also include alphanumericindicators (e.g., fashion item types or brands) or no alphanumericindicator.

In addition to applying tag marker 406, upload interface generates onthe user's computing device a fashion information upload window 408through which the user is prompted to upload selected fashioninformation relating to the indicated fashion item. For example, fashioninformation upload window 408 includes a fashion item type input 410 inwhich the user is prompted to enter a type for the fashion item, such asby providing a brief sample listing of types (e.g., “Dress, skirt, jeans. . . ”). In the illustrated implementation, a drop-down menu control412 is included to display or activate a predefined listing of fashiontypes upon user activation.

A fashion brand input 414 prompts the user to enter a manufacturer orretailer brand for the fashion item such as by providing a brief samplelisting of fashion brands (e.g., “Brand: Zara, H&M, . . . ”). Fashionbrand input 414 may also provide a drop-down menu from which to select afashion brand and/or may allow the user to type-in the fashion brand. Afabric detail input 416 prompts the user to enter any additional detailsregarding fabric of the fashion item, including fabric type (e.g.,cotton, linen, silk, rayon, etc.) fabric prints (e.g., striped, polkadots, leopard, etc.), or any other tags a user opts to include. Afashion color input 420, which may include a spectrum of color choices(each corresponding to a block in put 420), prompts the user to inputone or more colors characterizing the fashion item.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of a fashion information uploadinterface 500 as one implementation of fashion information uploadinterface 306. Fashion information upload interface 500 includes animage 502 of the uploaded personal fashion image file. An instruction504 directs the user to “click on your picture below and tag it withyour outfit details.” Upload interface receives from the user a “click”or other computing device input at a location in image 502 on oradjacent a fashion item to indicate that fashion item. In response,upload interface 500 applies a tag marker 506 to the location indicatedby the user. In the illustration of FIG. 5, for example, tag marker 506is located on a shirt or blouse to refer to the shirt or blouse. Tagmarker 506 as illustrated in FIG. 5 has an outline to highlight marker506 relative to image 502 and also a numeric indicator fordistinguishing multiple markers. It will be appreciated that tag marker506 may be of any configuration and may also include alphanumericindicators (e.g., fashion item types or brands) or no alphanumericindicator.

In addition to applying tag marker 506, upload interface generates onthe user's computing device a fashion information upload window 508through which the user is prompted to upload selected fashioninformation relating to the indicated fashion item. For example, fashioninformation upload window 508 includes a fashion item type input 510 inwhich the user is prompted to enter a type for the fashion item, such asby providing a brief sample listing of types (e.g., “Dress, skirt, jeans. . . ”). In the illustrated implementation, a drop-down menu control512 is included to display or activate a predefined listing of fashiontypes upon user activation.

A fashion brand input 514 prompts the user to enter a manufacturer orretailer brand for the fashion item such as by providing a brief samplelisting of fashion brands (e.g., “Zara, H&M, . . . ”). Fashion brandinput 514 may also provide a drop-down menu from which to select afashion brand and/or may allow the user to type-in the fashion brand. Aprovider link input 516 prompts the user to input a link to a providernetwork page (e.g., on a provider website) relating to the fashion item.For example, the link may be to a provider or vendor catalog page forthe fashion item. Based upon provider fashion associated with the link,retrieved from database 102 or from the provider network site, a fashioninformation affirmation section 520 displays the retrieved fashioninformation for affirmation by the user. An edit control 522 allows theuser to access and modify the fashion information displayed in section520.

With reference to FIG. 3, fashion community display interface 302includes a fashion community search interface 310 with which a communityuser may search or browse the user fashion ensembles or looks of fashioncommunity system 100. Search interface 310 may allow community user tosearch or browse among the user fashion ensembles according to any ormultiple ones of the information fields used by community system 100,including fields relating to types, colors, or brands of fashion items,users who have posted ensembles, the locations of posting users,ensembles that have been affirmed or “liked” by the user, datesensembles were posted, etc. Search interface may be rendered alone ortogether with other portions of display interface 302.

In one implementation, search interface 310 may include a listing ofmultiple fashion fields from which the user may select one or moresearch criteria. In another implementation, search interface may includea text entry block into which the user may enter one or more fashionfields as the search criteria. For example, the text entry block mayinclude a user prompt such as “What do you want to wear?” Displayinterface 302 also includes one or more user ensemble images 312 thatare displayed as a result of user-selected search criteria or based uponpredefined default criteria in the absence of user-selected criteria.Fashion information 316 for fashion items included the user ensembleimages and corresponding fashion provider information 318 are includedwith the ensemble images or accessed from links or tags in the ensembleimages.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic illustration of one implementation of fashioncommunity display interface 302, as rendered on a display screen of auser computing device 204 (FIG. 2). Display interface includes multipleuser fashion ensemble panels 602 (four shown, designated 602-1 through602-4), with which are rendered a user ensemble image 604 (designated604-1 through 604-4) and a username or identifier 606 (designated 606-1through 606-4), respectively. Each of ensemble panels 602 may alsoinclude any or all of multiple graphical user interaction controls suchas an ensemble affirmation or “like” control 608, an ensemble savecontrol 610, and a user comment control 612.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic illustration of a sample user ensemble image700, which includes tags or links 702 (designated 702-1 through 702-4)for fashion items included in image 700. In the example of user ensembleimage 700, tag 702-1 indicates a blouse or shirt, tag 702-2 indicates ahandbag, tag 702-3 indicates a necklace, and tag 702-4 indicates askirt. Tags 702 may be displayed concurrently with user ensemble images604 of display interface 302 or may be displayed when a particular panel602 or image 604 is selected by a viewing user to obtain additionalfashion information. It will be appreciated that each of tags 702includes an active link, activation of which provides the fashioninformation stored in database 102 with image 604.

Referring to FIG. 6, ensemble affirmation control 606 allows a viewinguser to indicate that he or she likes or otherwise thinks highly of theuser ensemble in the user ensemble image 604. Ensemble save control 608allows the viewing user to save a link to the fashion ensemble panel602. User comment control 610 allows the user to enter a commentrelating to the ensemble of the fashion ensemble panel 602. Communitysystem 100 stores viewing user affirmations and comments in associationwith the fashion ensemble panel 602, so the affirmations and commentsare available for other viewing users to see. Community system 100stores viewing user saves in association with the viewing user'scommunity profile or account 103 so that the corresponding fashionensemble panel 602 is more readily accessible by the viewing user. Inone implementation, each community user may have saved fashion ensemblepanels 602 organized in one or more albums or categories, defined by theuser, to make user access to the fashion ensemble panels 602 moreconvenient.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic illustration of a sample social fashion graph800 that displays an extent of correlation between different fashionitems being used together in user fashion ensembles included in fashioncommunity system 100. In the example illustrated in FIG. 8, socialfashion graph 800 includes multiple nodes 802 (designated 802-1 through802-12) that correspond to fashion items included in a selected set ofensembles or looks. Social fashion graph 800 displays for each node 802a bi-directional branch 804 (representative ones indicted by referencenumeral 804) with each of one or more other nodes 802 indicating thedegrees to which the corresponding fashion items are worn or usedtogether in the selected set of ensembles, as described below in greaterdetail.

Nodes 802 in sample social fashion graph 800 each indicate a fashionitem by type and brand, including for example node 802-1 indicating bagsfrom the brand Chanel, node 802-2 indicating jackets from the brand J.Crew, node 802-3 indicating sunglasses from the brand Prada, etc. Nodes802 may be rendered, as illustrated, with a size corresponding to thenumber of occurrences of the corresponding fashion item among theselected ensembles and may also or alternatively include a countindicator indicating specifically the number of occurrences of thefashion item among the selected ensembles.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a social fashion graph generating method 900for generating a social fashion graph 800 indicating correlationsbetween fashion items in the selected set of user fashion ensembles orlooks.

Process block 902 indicates that a user defines criteria to obtainmultiple selected user fashion ensembles from among the user fashionensembles included in fashion community system 90. For example, acommunity user may select a set of ensembles based upon any of theinformation fields used by community system 90, including fieldsrelating to types, colors, or brands of fashion items, users who haveposted ensembles, the locations of posting users, ensembles that havebeen affirmed, “liked,” or saved by the user, dates ensembles wereposted, etc.

Correlation process 904 indicates a method of generating correlationsbetween fashion items that appear among the selected ensembles aredetermined. Each correlation may be determined with respect to a pair offashion items included in ones of the selected ensembles. For example,bi-directional branch 804 between node 802-1 indicating bags from thebrand Chanel and node 802-3 indicating sunglasses from the brand Pradamay be determined as the respective percentages of ensembles among theselected ensembles that include both fashion items.

Process block 906 indicates that fashion item criteria are selected fromamong all of the fashion items included among the selected ensembles.The fashion item criteria may be selected from among one or more defaultcriteria stored by community system 90 or may be specified by a user.The fashion criteria may encompass all fashion items included in theselected ensembles or may be limited to any specified fashion fieldsrelating to the fashion items. For example, the fashion criteria mayspecify or determine correlations between brands of fashion items, orparticular types of fashion items of specified brands, as illustrated inFIG. 8. Such a fashion criteria specification may indicate, for example,fashion items the user owns or has an interest in. The fashion itemcriteria define the fashion items for which nodes 802 of social fashiongraph 800 may be rendered.

Process block 908 indicates that fashion items and ensembles that meetthe fashion criteria are identified and counted.

Process block 910 indicates that for each fashion item, a count isobtained of the number of ensembles that also include another fashionitem that meets the fashion item criteria.

Process block 912 indicates that a degree of correlation (e.g., apercentage) is calculated for each of a pair of fashion items indicatingthe percentage of ensembles that include both fashion items of the pair.With reference to bi-directional branch 804 between node 802-1 and node802-3, for example, count indicators 806 indicate that node 802-1 andnode 802-3 correspond to 5 and 2 ensembles, respectively, that includethe specified fashion items. With an underlying count of 1 ensemble thatincludes both specified fashion items, the percentage of ensembles withthe fashion items of node 802-1 (i.e, Chanel bags) that also include thefashion items of node 802-1 (i.e, Prada sunglasses) is 20%, and thepercentage of ensembles with the fashion items of node 802-1 (i.e, Pradasunglasses) that also include the fashion items of node 802-1 (i.e,Chanel bags) is 50%. Restated, 20% of the ensembles that include aChanel bag also include Prada sunglass (1 of 5), while 50% of theensembles that include Prada sunglasses also include a Chanel bag (i.e.,1 of 2).

Process block 914 indicates a social fashion graph is generated anddisplayed to indicate the fashion items and correlations between them.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a system 1000 having a computing device1002 as an operating environment of one or more embodiments describedabove. Computing device 1002 includes a basic computing structure 1004having a processing unit 1006 and a memory 1008. Processing unit 1006executes or performs software or other computer-executed instructions1010 stored in memory 1008 in accordance with operations describedabove. Processing unit 1006 may include one or more of any of a centralprocessing unit, a co-processor, and a dedicated or special-purposeprocessing unit (e.g., an audio processor). Memory 1008 may include oneor both of volatile memory (e.g., registers, cache, RAM) andnon-volatile memory (e.g., ROM, EEPROM, flash memory), and may includeone or more portions that are integrated with processing unit 1006 ordistinct from it. Memory 1008 stores software or other computer-executedinstructions 1010 that are executed or executable by processing unit1006 and may also store other data or information.

Computing device 1002 may also include any or all of the followingadditional components: storage 1012, one or more input devices 1014, oneor more output devices 1016, and one or more communication connections1018. An interconnection mechanism (not shown), such as a bus,controller, or network, interconnects the components of computing device1002. Typically, operating system software (not shown) provides anoperating environment for software executed or performed by computingdevice 1002 on and coordinates operation of its components.

Storage 1012 may include portions that removable or non-removable andmay include magnetic storage, optical storage, or electrical storagethat may be local to or remote from basic computing structure 1004. Inone embodiment, software 1010 and the operating system software may bestored in both memory 1008 and storage 1012, with software 1010 and theoperating system software being loaded in memory 1008 from storage 1012for execution by processing unit 1004.

To the extent used herein, the terms “computer readable medium” and“computer readable media” generally refer to any and all forms of memory1008 and storage 1012 and may be volatile or nonvolatile, removable ornon-removable, and by way of example and not limitation may include anyor all of the following types: RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory, or othermemory circuit technologies, CD-ROM, Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs) orother optical storage, magnetic storage devices such as disks, tapes,cassettes, etc.

Input device or devices 1014 may include one or more of: keyboard,keypad, touchscreen, touchpad, mouse, trackball, pen, voice inputdevice, camera, scanner, or any other input device. Output device(s)1016 may include one or more of: display, speaker, printer, motion oraction actuator or activator, transmitter, or any other output device.Each input device 1014 and output device 1016 may be connected to orcommunicate with computing device 1002 via any wired or wirelessconnection employing any optical, electrical, electromagnetic, oracoustic communication.

Computing device 1002 communicates through communication connection orconnections 1018 over a communication medium 1020 with one or more othercomputing devices 1022. Communication medium 1020 carries information,such as data, computer-executable instructions, audio or videoinformation, or other information, between computing devices 1002 and1022. By way of example, communication medium 1020 may include direct ornetworked communication between computing devices 1002 and 1022 and mayinclude one or more of wired or wireless connections employingelectrical, optical, electromagnetic, acoustic, or other carriers. Asone example, communication medium 1020 may include a global computernetwork such as the Internet.

A person of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that they may makemany changes to the details of the above-described exemplary systems andmethods without departing from the underlying principles. Only thefollowing claims, therefore, define the scope of the exemplary systemsand methods.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An online fashion community system,comprising: a processor; a fashion community database having storedtherein access to plural fashion images received from plural users overa worldwide computer network, each fashion image including a respectiveuser modeling plural fashion items together as an ensemble, the fashioncommunity database further including a link to a vendor of each fashionitem and fashion data regarding each fashion item, wherein at least someof the fashion items in the ensembles have a shared fashion datum; thefashion community database further storing user profiles of communityusers wherein at least some of the user profiles include identifiers offashion images and related information associated with the correspondinguser; and a computer network site that provides to a community of usersover the worldwide computer network plural ones of the fashion images inwhich fashion items have the shared fashion datum, together with accessto the fashion data for the fashion items in each of the plural ones ofthe fashion images and information linking to vendors of the fashionitems; the computer network site including a fashion community searchinterface arranged to receive search criteria input by a community userover a public computer network to select a fashion item; the onlinefashion community system configured to search the fashion communitydatabase to identify stored fashion images that include a first fashionitem that meets the search criteria among the fashion items worntogether in the corresponding ensemble; accessing the stored userprofile of the community user that input the search criteria; comparingthe identified fashion images to the user profile to select from amongthe identified fashion images at least one of the identified fashionimages that was previously associated to the community user in theirstored user profile; returning at least one of the selected fashionimages over the public computer network to the fashion communityinterface; and returning the stored fashion information to the fashioncommunity interface for at least some of the fashion items that appearin the returned fashion images.
 2. The system of claim 1 in which theshared fashion datum includes a clothing category, color, or brand. 3.The system of claim 1 in which the fashion community database furtherincludes indications of affirmation (“like”) of selected fashion imagesreceived from community users over the worldwide computer network andthe computer network site further includes indications of affirmationprovided with the selected fashion images over the worldwide computernetwork to the community of users.
 4. The system of claim 1 wherein thefashion image is associated to the community user because the userpreviously uploaded the image, “liked” the image, commented on theimage, or purchased a fashion item represented in the image.
 5. A methodcomprising: provisioning a fashion community database that stores userprofiles and fashion images posted by community members or users,wherein each fashion image shows a person wearing two or more fashionitems together, the two or more fashion items shown worn togetherdefining an ensemble corresponding to the fashion image; the fashioncommunity database further storing fashion information for each of atleast some of the fashion items that are shown in the fashion images;wherein the stored fashion information for a fashion item includes alink to a retail service from which to purchase the fashion item;further wherein at least some of the user profiles include identifiersof fashion images and related information associated with thecorresponding user; receiving search criteria input to a fashioncommunity interface by a community user over a public computer network;searching the fashion community database to identify stored fashionimages that include a first fashion item that meets the search criteriaamong the fashion items worn together in the corresponding ensemble;accessing the stored user profile of the community user that input thesearch criteria; comparing the identified fashion images to the storeduser profile to select from among the identified fashion images at leastone of the identified fashion images based on the stored user profile;returning at least one of the selected fashion images over the publiccomputer network to the fashion community interface; and returning thestored fashion information for at least some of the fashion items thatappear in the selected fashion images to the fashion communityinterface.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the returned fashioninformation includes links or tags in the returned fashion images toaccess corresponding fashion item provider information.
 7. The method ofclaim 5 wherein the selecting step includes comparing the identifiedfashion images to the user profile of the user that input the searchcriteria to return fashion images previously associated with the user.8. The method of claim 7 wherein a fashion image is associated with theuser because the user previously uploaded the image, commented on theimage, or took another action associated with the image in the fashioncommunity interface.
 9. The method of claim 5 wherein the selecting stepincludes comparing the fashion items worn together in the identifiedfashion images to the user profile of the user that input the searchcriteria to return fashion images (ensembles) that include fashion itemspreviously associated with the user.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein afashion item is associated with the user because the user previouslyuploaded a fashion image that includes the fashion item.
 11. The methodof claim 9 wherein a fashion item is associated with the user becausethe user previously searched or browsed the fashion community databasebased on metadata that matches metadata of the fashion item.
 12. Themethod of claim 11 wherein the metadata of the fashion item includes atleast one of type of clothing or accessory, color, and brand.
 13. Themethod of claim 5 wherein the search criteria include one or moreinformation fields including fields relating to types, colors, or brandsof fashion items.
 14. The method of claim 5 wherein the search criteriainclude one or more information fields including fields relating tousers who have posted ensembles, the locations of posting users,ensembles that have been affirmed or “liked” by the user, and datesensembles were posted.
 15. The method of claim 5 wherein the selectingstep includes comparing a geographic location of a user that posted thefashion image to the geographic location of the community user thatinput the search criteria.